The Week In TV 22/01/2012
30 Rock, Season 6, Episode 2: Idiots Are People Two
After repeatedly voicing my disappointment at the dip in quality 30 Rock took during its fourth and fifth seasons, I’ve enjoyed the first two episodes of its new season more than anything the show has aired in quite some time. Taking as its basis Tracy Morgan’s real-life homophobic rants, we see Tracy Jordan give a watered-down version of this speech that spins away a little too quickly from the real issue at hand, to have Tracy taking offence of Liz’s televised apology where she refers to him as “just an idiot.” As Tracy and - in a hilariously self-deprecating/self-flagellating cameo, Denise Richards - are quick to point out, idiots are people too and stage a protest outside the doors of NBC. Elsewhere, the episode embraced lunacy in one of its best uses of the Jenna/Kenneth pairing. It wasn’t just that this particular sub-plot was full of great one-liners, but that it took so many wonderfully surreal turns that it provided a nice sense of balance to Tracy’s self-referential antics elsewhere, and a well-cast James Marsden as yet another in a long line of losers the show shunts onto Liz.
Alcatraz, Season 1, Episodes 1-2: Pilot and Ernest Cobb
When Fringe premièred back in 2008, it seemed like little more than an X-Files knock-off, or - at worst - another dull police procedural with supernatural elements. Sure, there were hints at something larger, but it didn’t seem all that interesting. Alcatraz bumps up against similar problems, as it teams up Sarah Jones’ detective Rebecca Madsen with nerdy historian Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia) to track down a bunch of Alcatraz prisoners that mysteriously vanished in 1960 and are now popping up in the present day. Recruited by Sam Neil’s Agent Emerson and his right-hand woman Lucy Banerjee (Parminder Nagra, channelling a similar vein of officiousness to her role on ER), the first two episodes are pretty basic procedurals, with thinly-sketched characters and some clunky dialogue (at one point, Diego actually says “real life isn’t like in the comic books, is it?”). That being said, there are a few hints to suggest that Alcatraz has a larger story arc in mind, with the prisoners being rounded up and being placed in a modern facility for some nefarious purpose known only to Emerson. And why were both prisoners that we saw this week given obscure “tasks” to complete? And by whom? The series needs to show us more of this, rather than tease us with the possibility, if it’s going to become appointment viewing in the same way that Lost so quickly became. And it’s going to need a more solid grip on what makes its character ticks like in Alias or Fringe, Abrams’ other shows that also depend on serialised storytelling and character rather than self-contained narratives. I’m prepared to stick it out a little while longer in the hope of something better to come, but I’ll need to see a bit more if I’m going to stay in it for the long haul.
Fringe, Season 4, Episode 9: Enemy Of My Enemy
There are some people who are never going to get along with this season of Fringe, either because they’re not sure where it’s headed, or because Peter is the only one of “our” characters still left. Personally, I’ve enjoyed the shift. Yes, I miss the Olivia and Walter I knew, but the show has gone a long way to demonstrate that these characters do all have a basic throughline, and never more so than in this week’s episode. The return of Jared Harris as Jones is a welcome development, as he’s brought into Fringe Division only to reveal that he has several shape-shifters hidden in positions of power, and that he’s not afraid to utilise them for acts of terrorism, as we see tonight as a doctor kills an emergency room full of patients and co-workers. Peter - using his knowledge from the previous timeline - realises that Jones’ goal is to stockpile a mineral that will help him punch a sizeable hole between the two universes, but why is he gathering quite so much? If last week’s episode worked by showing us events from Peter’s perspective, “Enemy Of My Enemy” worked because it showed its characters feeling each other out, trying to see what elements from “their” iteration remained in the “other” version. Of course, this was most moving in Peter’s final speech with Walter, as it becomes apparent that beneath the layers of paranoia and self-loathing that have come to determine his idenity in a Peter-less world, he is still, at heart, a good man. But it was also at play in Walter’s interactions with the Elizabeth of Earth-2, Peter’s concern over Olivia chasing after Jones, and the two Lincolns’ increasingly amusing banter. Yes, these aren’t the characters we’ve come to love over the course of three seasons exactly, but there’s still some core to that identity that makes their hopes, fears and careful sounding-out of one another moving and relevant to the Fringe universe as a whole.
The Good Wife, Season 3, Episode 13: Bitcoin For Dummies
In one fell swoop, Season 3 of The Good Wife turned an already delicious story arc into its most morally complex plot yet. What went on in the foreground of this week’s, again, stellar episode was smart, light-footed and contemporary, but it was the movement of the larger tectonic plates within the Good Wife universe that really compelled. Jason Biggs stars as a lawyer currently being pursued by the US Treasury for failing to release the identity of one of his clients, the inventor of an online currency called Bitcoin. Whilst Alicia is tasked with facing up against Treasury lawyer Gordon Higgs, (his irritating implacability clearly ruffled here by a particularly bored judge) Kalinda gets to do some detective work in finding out who the inventor of Bitcoin is without having to break attorney-client privilege. Her investigation is fairly standard, containing the requisite amount of Kalinda one-liners and quiet, assertive one-upmanship we’re used to from the character, but I have to say that I enjoyed the – admittedly, rather neat – resolution a great deal. However, the real action took place elsewhere, with Will admitting not only to having had one of his debts cancelled by the bookie that worked with the judges accused of corruption, but also to a case that might cast aspersions on him. Kalinda removes the file from the office, we assume to remove any incriminating evidence from it, but the show throws an added spanner to the works when Dana uses the forged document Alicia signed last week as leverage to get hold of the suspicious-looking case file. In the wake of her fall-out with Alicia last season, Kalinda has been mostly relegated to the sidelines this year, so it’s pleasing to see her so caught up in the crossfire here. Will’s silent request to help him get rid of incriminating evidence puts her in a sticky situation, one which it’s going to be difficult for her to extricate herself from, and this is made even more complicated by Kalinda’s shifting allegiances towards Alicia. The past few weeks have seen a cooling of relations, and Kalinda certainly isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, but the writers have done an exceptional job in what they withhold from both their audience, and what the characters within the show withhold from one another. Does Kalinda have an ace up her sleeve we don’t know about, or is it just a simple matter of wanting to protect Alicia over Will? And how much of that is motivated by genuine affection, and how much by a desire to compensate for the revelations of Season 2? There’s plenty to chew on here, and although I preferred the sense of momentum that built up during Season 2’s political campaign and Alicia’s impending separation from her husband, Season 3 has pushed through its rocky first few episodes into increasingly muddy water, and if it continues in this vein, we’re in for a dam buster of a finale.
Glee, Season 3, Episode 10: Yes/No
Glee’s ability to hit home with individual scenes that make little to no sense within the larger narrative of its universe is second to none. ”Yes/No” had more than its fair share of storylines that came out of nowhere (Will proposing to Emma, Finn deciding to join the army, Finn proposing to Rachel) but which sort of worked scene-to-scene. So it was fun to have Will propose to Emma amid a synchronised swimming routine, but considering how little we’ve seen the two since they got together, and how inconsistent the show has been in its representation of Emma’s OCD - a condition that their future apparently hinges on if this week’s episode is to be believed - Will’s decision to propose felt less like a natural step in their relationship and more like the writers deciding that they needed to devote some time to their nominal leading male and couldn’t think of anything better to do. Likewise, Finn’s decision to join the army makes a certain sort of sense given that we’ve seen him worry about his future before. It’s a sudden decision, but it’s one we can buy from the character. To then have a whole back story wherein Finn’s father wasn’t a war hero but a drug addict, a secret that his mother has been keeping from him for years, feels cheap. It worked in the moment because the writing (though rushed) was relatively sensitive to all the characters involved, and because the performances were affecting, but why couldn’t we have this story spread over a few more episodes? Why must it compete for space with Will performing “Moves Like Jagger,” or Sam joining the synchronised swimming team? Oddly enough, the two C-storylines - Sam trying to get Mercedes to take an interest in him, and Becky asking Artie out on a date - weren’t bad. And whilst it’s almost churlish at this point to complain about Glee being overstuffed, its problems were articulated by Artie’s speech about how the Glee Club likes to talk the talk about acceptance, but that perhaps they don’t have the courage of their convictions. Because it seems that every time Glee gets close to being great, to dealing with its characters in a way befitting the issues it’s tackling and its talented ensemble, it’s just as quick to move onto the next “big moment,” be that an OTT musical number or a proposal so patently built as a cliffhanger and nothing more, and that is what’s crippling a show that so many of us keep watching because of how well the show can nail these big moments, and why so many of us will continue carping about its disregard for continuity, and even for its own characters.
Gossip Girl, Season 5, Episode 11: The End of the Affair?
Surely one of the worst episodes that the show has ever produced, the premise was such an ill fit that it quickly became clear any quality was going to be difficult to salvage. Picking up roughly a month after the accident that put Blair and Chuck into the hospital and conveniently killed Blair’s baby, she’s now as firmly stuck to Louis as ever, leaving Chuck to wonder what exactly went wrong. Lifting the plot of The End of the Affair was never going to be a good idea for a teen soap opera, and it proves particularly disastrous in a series of flashbacks that reveal Blair prayed for Chuck’s safety, promising to marry Louis if only God could see to it that Chuck recovers. Much of the episode focused on Dan helping Blair hide her regular meetings with a minister to discuss her situation, which is as dramatically inert as having Chuck team up with the increasingly wooden Louis to uncover the truth behind his fiancée’s deception. The one glimmer of hope came in Dan and Serena manufacturing a fake relationship in order that Blair’s secret remain hidden. For all the raft of love interest the show has thrown at Dan, the only one that’s ever stuck has been Dan, and there’s something about Serena coming to realise what she really values that’s more interesting than any number of lame double crosses or bored-looking socialites milling around yet another high society party.
Pan Am, Season 1, Episode 11: Diplomatic Relations
Even broader than the low bar Pan Am has set itself, this was a rare example of the land-based escapades resonating that much more than the mostly flat trip to Soviet Russia. Once in Moscow, Laura’s camera sees her an Bridget arrested as potential spies, a situation that Kate manages to get them out of by persuading an American asset to pull some strings with her KGB boyfriend. The neatness, and the lack of any real peril (has the show ever stayed in one destination more than one week?) meant that this lacked the deftness of the show’s other spy-based storylines. Of course, the big story here was the fallout from Dean sleeping with Bridget, but, again, since the episode chose to focus on the two least interesting members of its love triangle rather than the sparky Karine Vanasse as Collette pretty much sucked any air out of the drama. Much more successful, and surprisingly so, was Maggie’s attendance at a black tie event with her congressman boyfriend. It was obvious that her left-wing beliefs were going to come out at the most inopportune moment, but the writers for once nailed the satisfying nature of Maggie’s rhetoric in a parlour full of overly-outraged Republicans. The less said about her kiss with Ted’s fiancée (“Sometimes I just think women are better” being code for “I’m a secret lesbian” apparently) the better, as I can’t picture that going anywhere good. An okay episode in a season that is continually struggling to build up steam, in spite of its many elements that are - individually - rather good.
Revenge, Season 1, Episode 13: Commitment
One of Revenge’s best episodes yet, “Commitment” came off the back of a major twist and not only ran with it, but also offered us compelling reasons as to why the collateral damage Emily has left in her wake might give her a genuine pause for thought. Emily’s scheming this week is particularly complex, as she ensures that Conrad knows that Charlotte is not his daughter, and, placing Victoria in a particularly difficult position, making her believe that it was Amanda behind the revelation. Not only does this skewer any chance Victoria has at achieving a decent settlement in her divorce proceedings, but it also finally gets Amanda to leave town after Jack is beat up by one of Victoria’s thugs trying to uncover evidence. However, the meat of the episode concerned Daniel’s proposal to Emily (and who didn’t cheer with the sheer bravado of the writers having him toss aside his umbrella to kiss his fiancée in the rain after she said yes?), which had many a reverberation. Following Jack’s assault, Emily has second thoughts about bringing another innocent man into her revenge scenario, but her mind is changed when Daniel tells her that Victoria has led him to believe that David Clarke raped her. Once a show has been on the air a certain amount of time, its character lose their ability to surprise you. Did Don Draper’s proposal at the end of Season 4 of Mad Men come as a shock? Buffy throwing herself off a building at the end of Season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Carter falling into drug addiction on ER? Yes, but they all came about as the result of character traits the show writers had built up over the years. It’s only in the early innings that a character can truly surprise, and Victoria’s bald lie - especially coming after weeks of the show showing her more sympathetic side - was perhaps even more of an “OMG” moment than the reveal about Charlotte’s paternity last week.
